Message from Christelle Chassagne, President of th Nouvelle-Aquitaine Tourist Board

“A few weeks ago, the Regional Tourism Board of Nouvelle-Aquitaine announced good results despite the two years of health crisis that we have just experienced. Of course, the whole tourist sector has been impacted and the very positive recovery of our region, which became the most visited destination by French tourists last summer, gave us real hope...

The war that has just plunged the Ukrainians into horror has put a blunt end to our enthusiasm but leads us to a great solidarity. Tourism is one of the principal ways to share, to meet, to respect the freedom of our differences, of our cultures.

The war that is breaking out on our doorstep is already impacting France and the whole world through the obligation to take strong measures against the Russian government.

The prolongation of this war could not only delay the start of the ensuing tourist season, but also lead to a drop of our usual foreign clients.

In this context, I have asked the CRT teams to deploy a monitoring unit to measure the current and future impacts of this crisis on our tourist numbers. All actions related to tour operators, travel agencies and Russian and Belarusian airlines, with whom we were in contact, have also been suspended.

Of course the economic impact is nothing compared to the suffering of the Ukrainian people today. Peace must be the only way out of this terrible nightmare. The CRT NA remains committed to working with you to promote the humanitarian values that we all cherish.“